When I stupidly broke my slow cooker, I knew I needed to replace it ASAP – with the summer heat I cannot stand to turn the oven or stovetop on any more than absolutely necessary. And there’s only so much one can eat off the grill.

I’d heard great things about the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker on the online forums for AIP and paleo bloggers and so investigated it further. While I could care less about the bean and grain settings, I was particularly interested in the fact that it was both a slow cooker and pressure cooker in one. Plus, the model I purchased even has a yogurt making setting! (Hello homemade co-yo!)

After reading reviews and getting my husband on board, I took the plunge and ordered it online. It arrived about 3 or 4 days later and I’ve been obsessed ever since.

There’s really no point in putting the thing away as I use it pretty much almost every day (sometimes multiple times a day!) for its speed, convenience and the fact that I’m not heating up my kitchen. Cleanup is also relatively easy given that the inner pot and rack are dishwasher safe. I seriously love this thing!

Pros

• 7-in-one cooker, various presets
• Automatic keep-warm feature when cooking is complete. Optional delay start
• Option to use as a traditional slow cooker or electric pressure cooker
• Easy to use and adjust electric touch controls
• Can cook meats from frozen
• Dishwasher safe parts
• Built-in lid holder – seriously love this feature! You don’t have to put the lid down on the counter

Cons

• No real set cooking times, can be tricky to figure out on your own (the times suggested in the user manual have been hit or miss results-wise for me)
• The user manual is clearly not written by a native English speaker and as such some directions are quite confusing
• A big large (tall) making it a little awkward to store
• Frozen meat takes longer to cook than suggested in the user manual
• Only comes with one sealing ring – would be great to have two

I’ve made bone broths, stews, potatoes, carrots, pulled pork, roast beef dinner, soup, a whole (from frozen!) chicken and other various recipes in it already. I can’t wait to put it through its paces even more and am thoroughly impressed with the Instant Pot, even if figuring out how to adjust recipes is a bit of a challenge.

Note: I did not receive compensation of any kind for this review.